Glenn and I went on a little “Man-venture” to the river
yesterday for a much needed time of swimming, jumping of the bridge, and
hiking. We took our little jungle boy Juan, who was 13 years old, with us.
“Jungle Boy” name we have given all the local boys who follow us around to
work, on house visits, at our house, etc and who always seem to feel no pain,
know no limits to how high they can climb a tree, never get tired, and who seem
to have literally been birthed by the jungle, in a sense, given that they know
every nook and cranny and trail that could possibly exist. Today, Juan saw
Glenn and I heading to the river and asked if he could join. We said yes, and before
the other jungle boys could discover where we were heading, the three of us
jumped into the back of a truck and road out, looking forward to our afternoon.
the river, jumping into rapids and off rocks (only after Juan had convinced us
there were no hidden rocks in the water by making him do everything first
before we did) when we asked Juan if there were any cool trails that we could
explore. He said yes, there is one that goes to a waterfall, and he would take
us there! We were excited and jumped at this opportunity. The trail started out
pretty steep and slippery and went pretty deep into the jungle canopy as we
followed the river towards the sound of rushing water. After 20 minutes or so the
trail got so narrow and steep that we had to use a rope that had been tied to
the rocks to continue on. On our right side was the rope that we were hanging
on to for dear life, on the other side was 100 foot drop down into the river,
which didn’t look so friendly at the moment.
After half an hour or so, we reached the waterfall. It was
one of the most beautiful waterfalls I had ever seen, and we were able to get
up under it as it splashed down on to us. So much fun! However, this wasn’t
good enough for Glenn and I. We could see the river down below and asked Juan to take us down to the river.
Juan found a little path for us to navigate down the falls, and we started our
descent. We had gotten about 30 feet when it got very slick and we couldn’t
continue on without sitting down and just sliding along slowly. Juan
told us “cuidado, cuidado!” (careful, careful!) and we continued on. Finally, we were about 50 feet or so from the bottom and I decided to get
out my camera and try and take a video. Not really thinking, this took away one of my
hands to use for balance. I slipped a bit and crashed in to Glenn who was a few
feet in front of me. We held on to some shrubs while still
filming the video, I handed the camera to Juan to film us as we climbed. No
sooner had I done this that I lost complete control and started sliding quickly
down the rocks towards a ledge. Having nothing to grab on to, I fell over the
edge and continued to fall, sliding along rocks on the way down, falling over
one more ledge, bumping my chin and knees on more rocks, and dropping the rest of the way down in to the river, landing with a huge splash.
realized that I had just fallen a good 60 feet from where Glenn and Juan were
on the rocks.
Needless to say I was still in a lot of pain, but it looked like the worse of it was some pretty banged up
knees which were starting to swell.
Juan was still at the top of the rocks filming. My first thought,
“Sweet, he got all that on video!” My second thought, “Oh boy, how am I going
to get back up this waterfall and on to the trail?” I was able to walk and
could tell nothing was broken, but my knees were bruised up and it was not
going to be easy to put any weight on them. Juan came down and threw me a stick
and helped pull me the rest of the way back up the waterfall. I walked back to
the bridge and then up the hill to the road, where we waited on our ride to
come pick us up. We arrived back home just after dark, and although my pride
was a bit shattered, I only had a few bruises and cuts. I was definitely
thankful for God’s protection during my fall.
handle the climb, but should have listened to Juan and not tried to push our
limits by climbing down what was clearly a pretty slippery trail down the
waterfall. I am not invincible and although I love seeking adventure, there comes a point where I need to use more caution and wisdom. A word that was spoken to me before the trip was that I need to make sure I am not “careless.” This experience definitely helped me to have a greater understanding of what this word means and how to approach situations in the future.
This is part one of a two part series. Check out my next blog
about Pastor Ivan’s reaction to my injuries when I returned back to our
house and how once again I learned that
my approach to mending up my wounds was not necessarily the best as Pastor Ivan began to show me some native herbs and remedies to use on my cuts!
